In 1925, T.J. Monachino’s parents opened Superior Office Products, a small retail office products dealer that also housed a convenience store and offered a small delivery service. In the early 2000s, the couple moved the store outside Cleveland and made a few acquisitions. However, the business was hit hard by the 2008-09 recession and closed. In 2012, however, with the help of family friend Craig Stout, Monachino revived the business.
“It’s been off to the races ever since,” he enthuses, relating that the company did about $500,000 in 2012. Today, some 22 acquisitions later, the company has extended its reach into western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Southern Michigan.
Making acquisition an art
“We’ve gotten really good at acquisitions,” Monachino says, explaining one of the top reasons for United’s ongoing success. “We’ve acquired companies with annual sales ranging from $300,000 to $20 million. Like anything, it’s a skill we continue to improve.”
Yet just buying a company isn’t enough. “I think a second reason for our success is that we have gotten really good at integrating the companies we acquire into our operations,” he says. “The companies continue to operate under their names and we try to hire every employee who wants to stay. We also rely on experts to introduce our other categories, like janitorial, industrial and safety. We have at least one expert on staff in each category and that is all they do; they go on sales calls with reps.”
Monachino believes this expertise is essential to doing well in non-office product categories: “A pen is a pen. But in the other categories, you are selling knowledge, explaining why a floor may be too slippery and needs a different product. I don’t think you can do it without experts. There is too much to know.”
While knowledge is key, so is customer loyalty, which Monachino has found can be encouraged for free.
“We give away a lot of free stuff: cookies, staplers, safety vests, tape dispensers—all kinds of things,” he says. “With specific size orders, they can pick what they want from the list, which we rotate with different things. Also, if they order product from at least three of our five categories, they can get free shredding. We shred about a million pounds of paper free each year. The bins cost us $40 each, but it’s worth it because it builds loyalty.”
According to Monachino, Amazon is a competitor primarily in the office products sector; but United has found a way to beat Amazon at the delivery game: “Many customers will see something on Amazon, send us the link and have us order it and deliver it. They pay us for the convenience of knowing we will put it in the right place.”
Looking ahead
Monachino suggests that dealers looking for ongoing success should “continue to look for ways to be valuable to your customers and be different. A lot of dealers talk about their customer service, but it’s not enough alone anymore. You have to be innovative—to find things that make it hard for customers to go someplace else.”
As for the future? “In the next five to 10 years, I see us continuing to expand in janitorial, industrial, furniture and safety,” the CEO predicts. “We’d like to get our annual sales to $100 million in the next couple of years and making acquisitions will continue as one of our main strategies.”
Headquarters: Cleveland, OH
Top management: TJ Monachino, CEO; Levi Beurden, chief culture and technology officer; Nick Sills, chief operating officer; Patty Pompeani, director of sales
Main wholesaler: Essendant
Number of employees: 141
Category sales: 35% janitorial, 15% furniture, 50% office products and other