What I learned in Puerto Rico

I am a member of the OfficeMax Diversity Council. Our mission is to help OfficeMax grow through diversity in our suppliers and our associates. As a member of this council I had the opportunity last week to spend time in Puerto Rico visiting the OfficeMax stores and distribution center. The intention was to learn about how they incorporated aspects of their culture in their stores to drive sales.

The Puerto Rico Stores outperform our US stores in all categories. In fact one store in Puerto Rico generates more sales than some districts do in the US. This was not always the case. Not long ago, sales were struggling on the island and something had to be done.

Management went to Puerto Rico to ask the store team what they felt could be done to improve sales. The team identified a number of products that we use in the States that are not a part of Puerto Rican culture. One particular item was Spiral Notebooks. Puerto Ricans use bound composition notebooks. In fact the back room was filled with spiral's that just wouldn't sell. More items like this were identified, and slowly the inventory in the Puerto Rico stores were converted to items more suitable for their culture. As this happened, sales grew.

Management wanted the Diversity Council to make a trip down to the island to learn more about their success and bring back learning's as we expand to other areas outside of the US.

Upon arriving at our Day one destination, we were greeted with spirited music and an enthusiastic group. They had some traditional Puerto Rican pastries waiting for us along with regular breakfast fare and a gift bag for each of us. That morning we learned about the size of the operations, the future growth plans and a little about the people who were managing the stores and DC's. They than had us join them for lunch where we had traditional food in a warehouse break room that was decorated as a tropical island. Again, there was music and much enthusiasm. We began sharing information about each other and what we all did for OfficeMax.

That afternoon we learned about the people on the island. Puerto Ricans come from 4 ethnic backgrounds and 80% of Puerto Ricans consider themselves to belong to the white race. We also learned that the ratio of women to men working in management at our stores was greater than the ration of women to men on the island. When asked about how this came about, the VP said, they were my best workers and deserved the promotions.

We dined with them that evening, ate local specialties, drank Mojitos and learned more about each other, our hobbies, families and our dreams for the future.

Day 2 we visited stores. We were greeted with Spirited Music, and welcomed like family. They were all very eager to show us their operations and it was clear how proud they were of their accomplishments. They talked about the celebrations in their community and over and over again the theme was that they were proud to be Puerto Ricans and proud to work for OfficeMax.

After the 2 days were over, I felt as if I had a spiritual renewal.

Yes, the product mix did change and was more suited to the island culture, however the continued success is due to who they are and how they treat each other and their customers.
I went to learn about operating a successful store through merchandising and came back learning about people.

I wish I could package their enthusiasm and pride, their sense of oneness and team work and their desire to achieve.

I learned that it is not the merchandising that makes that store so successful, it's the people.

People really do make the difference don't you agree?