Aug. 23, 2023

This paid piece is sponsored by Interstate Office Products.

Every new hire across the Dakotas offices at Marsh McLennan Agency gets to go on a little shopping spree.

“They get a quarter-zip and a laptop bag of their choice,” director of administration Tracy Wheeler explained. “We send them a link, and they can pick from a choice of bag they like. It helps personalize their experience when they join and get something they will use.”

From there, the selection gets only bigger. Every colleague at the Sioux Falls office receives a yearly allowance they can use anytime throughout the year. The funds are used in an online shop customized just for MMA.

“It has everything – nearly 2,000 products with the ability to order even beyond that,” Wheeler said. “And it’s not just branded apparel. Our team members can get luggage, blankets, really almost anything you can imagine.”

From there, orders are shipped directly to MMA where the team can hand them out.

“It’s been so fun for colleagues. When items get delivered, it’s a little like Christmas every couple weeks as we look at what everyone ordered,” Wheeler said. “The process has been made incredibly easy for us.”

Behind the scenes, the team at Interstate Office Products administers every aspect of the online experience – from curating the selection of products with MMA to ordering them and shipping them.

“We tailor a program based on our client’s needs, and we find creating a custom company store that we manage for them is a huge time-saver,” sales consultant Curt Reinschmidt said.

Wheeler agrees.

“We used to do this manually, and it was literally like a full-time job,” she said. “Now, it’s so hands-off. Curt handles the legwork and communicates with our colleagues and responds immediately if they need help with ordering or have a special request.”

Recently, the IOP team even set up a pop-up display at the Sioux Falls and Fargo MMA offices so the team could touch, see and get a sense for new products.

“There are products from Nike, Under Armour, Carhartt, Eddie Bauer, so a lot of well-known brands, as well as some Yeti, Urban Peak, Polar Camel drinkware, as well as plenty of non-name brand options,” Reinschmidt said.

“We set up the online store so each team member has a unique username and password, and has a custom program for their individual office.”

The approach is so seamless that other MMA offices in the region now work with IOP to run their own corporate store.

“Once other offices saw our site, they also wanted to duplicate this for their local office. Now, our whole region is on board with the concept,” Wheeler said.

“Each office operates its program on an individual basis, and IOP is able to offer whatever approach they choose. For instance, there’s an option for employees to put in their own credit card and order as they’d like anytime throughout the year, even if the office doesn’t offer an allowance or the allowance is used up.”

While all products are branded, the options truly are endless, she added.

“We have colleagues get stocking caps or golf-related items, lunch bags, even Carhartt items. Our construction and ag teams can get things they actually wear when meeting with clients,” Wheeler said.

“We see a lot of North Face coats in the winter, vests, a lot of blazers, and people within the community comment on them, so I think the variety is noticed and appealing.”

The options even extend to the newest members of the MMA family.

Businesses can track employees’ usage of the store and send a friendly reminder to those who still have credit available to shop, Reinschmidt said.

“A lot of times, a company store might have 20, 50, 100 items,” he added. “MMA went with one on a large scale to have the equivalent of a full catalog, but we can customize the approach to tailor a store for anyone’s needs.”

Beyond the company store, IOP also helps MMA with a range of other promotional products.

“In Sioux Falls and Fargo, we do swag items for everything from trade shows to job and internship fairs,” Wheeler said. “Curt is great at coming up with products for us, and we need variety. We likely won’t hand out the same thing to college students that we do at an ag event, and again the variety of products is fantastic.”

The same idea extends to client appreciation gifts, she said.

“We’ve done more of a focus on quality over quantity, and Curt has been great at coming up with products for us,” Wheeler said. “We can give him 10 dream items we’d like to have, and the next day he has options at different price points for us to choose from.”

Additionally, IOP handles the office supply needs for MMA’s South Dakota and North Dakota offices.

“These are both branded and nonbranded products, everything from post-it notes to pens, pocket folders, notepads, mouse pads,” Wheeler said. “During COVID, we got all our masks and hand sanitizer from them. We get literally everything, even branded bottles of water to hand out when clients come to the office.”

IOP will pre-order and stock things like MMA-branded envelopes and letterhead, “so they’re pulling it from their stock, and we don’t need to store it in our office because space is limited,” Wheeler said. “They warehouse it, and Curt is great at communicating when we’re getting low and reordering when it makes sense.”

The idea is to create “a one-stop shop from supplies to promotional items to printing needs,” Reinschmidt said. “We can service essentially everything.”

When Reinschmidt comes into the MMA office, the team knows him so well “he’s welcomed like an employee,” Wheeler said. “I just can’t speak highly enough. If we’re trying to meet deadlines or need branded products on a tight turnaround, they go above and beyond. They don’t just give us one option; they give us at least three and exceed every expectation we have. It’s just been a great working relationship.”

Would you like to explore how IOP can assist with an employee store or help with promotional products or office supplies? Reach out to Curt Reinschmidt at 605-275-3110 or [email protected].