Guernsey Office Products Hosts President Bush

David M. Guernsey, the president and CEO of Guernsey Office Products, played host to the President of the United States at the company’s headquarters in Chantilly, Va., on Oct. 7. Guernsey Office Products, a DDMS customer, is still buzzing from the visit. No matter one’s political views, it’s exciting to be a part of the frenzy.

“When an office products dealer like us has Apache helicopters, snipers on the roof, 30-car motorcade, Secret Service agents everywhere, White House press, satellite trucks to provide a live nationwide TV address, police everywhere, roads blocked that provide access to our building…it’s anything but an ordinary day in the neighborhood,” says Guernsey. “It was very exciting. Our people just loved it. We were thrilled.”

Guernsey says that he did have to warn his 19-year-old daughter about the attention. The Guernsey dealership is now quite famous – even being spoofed on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

“I had to have my daughter, a sophomore in college, explain to me what The Daily Show was. … I had a vague idea about Jon Stewart but not much more,” he says. The dealership was on 56 outlets in the U.S. and several outside the U.S. All told, the exposure has been great for business,” he says.

Guernsey says that the 72 hours leading up to the President’s arrival were hectic, but exciting. President George W. Bush praised Guernsey’s hard work to make his dealership “a trusted name throughout the Washington area.” Bush also praised Guernsey as “an entrepreneur, a dreamer, and a doer.”

During the visit, Bush talked about the economy and its effects on the office products business. He told Guernsey employees, as well as the nation, to “hang in there.” He said that times are tough, but we as a nation will come through.

Before Bush addressed the audience, he spent about 40 minutes with Guernsey and six other business owners, who are also Guernsey customers.

“The President wanted to get a first-hand feel, no filters, from Main Street business as to how the economic chaos was affecting our businesses,” says Guernsey. “He was relaxed, attentive, informal and very forthcoming in our meeting. I was amazed at how he solicited and engaged in an open dialog with all of us.”

As far as Bush’s message about the economy, Guernsey says, “I couldn't help but be encouraged.”

Being in the Washington, D.C. area, Guernsey is not unfamiliar with government and politics. In fact, government is one of the dealership’s target customer groups, along with associations, professional services, and lawyers – “there’s one every 10 feet here,” Guernsey jokes.

Guernsey Office Products, founded in 1971, has been a user of ECi’s DDMS software for more than 11 years. The dealership was running on a distribution system called Daly & Wolcott, but made the switch to DDMS because of the industry-specific aspect of the software. Guernsey also liked the fact that the software was started by industry partners, who joined forces to create a software system for dealers by dealers.

Guernsey Office Products uses the DDMS system to manage all of its lines of business, which include office products, furniture and janitorial and sanitation equipment. Guernsey Office Products also uses Dealer Station®, an ECi Web storefront, and a high percentage of sales are online.

Guernsey Office Products, which is also a stocking dealer, makes use of the Private Supply Network (PSN) from ECi.

“It’s one of the things that we really like. The PSN takes costs out and adds efficiency. It’s key in dealing with suppliers,” Guernsey says.

Guernsey Office Products is a $50 million dealer with four locations across Virginia and Maryland. The dealership currently has about 190 employees, and serves more than 6,000 customers in the metropolitan D.C. area.

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A complete transcript of President Bush’s speech with audio, video and photos can be found here.

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