TSS Office Systems
When Ben and Tammy Myers commenced their NEIS business, Myers Business Machines, as a service agent for photocopier machines in the Toowoomba region, they had no idea just how far NEIS would take them. Nine years later they are partners in TSS Office Systems, a business with a turnover exceeding one million dollars per annum. Ben attributes the contribution he and Tammy have made to the success of this business largely to NEIS.
Ben and Tammy worked for a couple of years just as husband and wife in Myers Business Machines. Their aim was to be an alternative service agent for copiers in the region and to provide service that customers expect and deserve. Their service principles saw their customer base building and all was going well.
In November 1997 they had a chance meeting with the partners of another similar business in town. They were a bit bigger and had a shop and four owners. One set of partners wanted to sell and Tammy and Ben saw this as an opportunity to grow their business to the next level. So they bought in as 50% owners of TSS Office Systems. From two in the business they went to four, with a shop and a new copier dealership.
In 2000, they purchased another business: Busy Bee Copy Centre. This allowed them to gain much needed experience in high volume and colour copiers (two areas today at which they excel.) The business has gone from strength to strength and today employs the four partners plus five full time staff (three technicians and two salespeople) and one part time (the bookkeeper).
When asked how the NEIS training and mentoring assisted them to identify and target their market and manage growth Ben said, "Right from the start we knew there was a market for what we were doing. Copiers always need attention and we enjoyed giving that attention - not only to the customer's copiers but to the customers themselves. NEIS training was invaluable in this process. The principle of service was drilled into us and that is what we base our business on today."
Ben and Tammy's Managing Agent, Business Success Group were proud to nominate TSS Office Systems for the Hall of Fame award at the 2005 ABBi's.