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Interview With . . . Frank Murphy Inventory Management Services Inc. Greenville, SC by Maria Gracia 1. What is the name of your company? Where are you located? How long have you been in business? My name is Frank Murphy of Inventory Management Services Inc. I'm located in Greenville, SC and I've been in business for nine years. 2. Is this your primary business, or a part-time business? This is my primary business. 3. Are you a member of NAPO? (Please indicate if you're an officer.) Yes and former BOD. 4. Why did you become a professional organizer? As as maintenance software trainer, I was in hundreds of companies that were looking for someone to design, setup, organize and inventory their spare parts storerooms and maintenance tool cribs, so that they could use the software to track parts and tools. There was not another independant company doing this so I went after that market. 5. What type of organizing do you specialize in (home, office, etc.)? MRO (maintenance-repair-operations) storerooms and tool cribs design, setup, organizing, inventory and bar coding. 6. Do you sell products, services, or seminars? Please describe. I resell a variety of storage media, as well as our organizing services. 7. Have you written a book(s)? If so, what is the title(s)? Not yet. 8. Do you publish a newsletter? If so, is it a print newsletter, or an e-zine? Is it free, or is there a charge? No. 9. Do you have a web site? If so, what is the address? Yes, it's www.practicalorganization.com 10. Is travel a big part of your business? Yes. 11. Who is your primary target audience? Plant Engineers, Purchasing Managers and manufacturing facilities. 12. Describe your typical workday. IMS works 7-5, M-S - available space organized to its maximum effeciency and then parts and tools are organized, sorted, categorized and stored generically and then by specific machine or application. 13. Every person interested in entering the professional organizing field is wondering, "Can I make enough money doing this?" What is your outlook on this question? Absolutely - there is enough work available if you are willing to work hard to find it and work harder to implement it. Storage area environments are frequently hot, dirty and grimey. 14. Which of the following marketing vehicles have you used to help you grow your business (direct mail, newspaper advertising, free workshops, radio, television, web site, e-zine, telemarketing, yellow pages, joint ventures with other professionals, publicity, other: please describe)? Website is now number one generator of leads. I also work off of client referrals and with other professional organizers. IMS provides a generous finders fee for referrals that result in billable work. 15. Which one marketing technique have you found works the best for you? Please describe. Website and then face-to-face meeting with the prospective client. 16. Describe a successful, creative marketing technique that you use, or that you've used in the past. Before and after pictures and letters of referral. 17. Do you feel that networking plays a big role in growing your business? Not a very big part right now because of the uniqueness of the business. 18. What do you do to generate referrals? Referrals to other sites in a large multi-national corporation usually stem from the successful organizing at one plant. 19. What do you find to be the most exciting part of your business? The personal satisfaction from seeing a storeroom that more resembled a landfill converted into a cost-saving, efficient operation. 20. What do you find to be the most frustrating part of your business? A lack of consistent application of organizing principles implemented during the setup and reorganization. 21. Describe your greatest success in this field. Our client list is our success story. One of the most memorable was consolidating 27 satellite storage areas embracing 65,000 square feet into 3 storage areas totaling less that 30,000 sq. ft. 22. As a professional organizer, do you have a funny story to share? In the early stages of organizing a parts storeroom in a power plant, I had to move a wooden box that was on the top shelf of an 84 inch high shelving unit. Instead of doing the smart thing by getting a ladder and removing it properly, I stood on my tippy-toes and tilted the box toward me to slide it off. As the top of the box became visible, my brief and inglorious life flashed before me as I watched a hand grenade roll down the box toward my face. I ducked and it hit me squarely on the head (I was wearing a hard hat). It was a WW2 'pineapple', a dummy practice grenade and no one knew how it got there. I have it displayed on the bookcase in my office. 23. As an organizer, what professional organizing information or tools are you always on the lookout for? Better ways to store parts and simple bar code capable storeroom software. 24. Looking ahead, what do you see as your greatest challenge? Finding employees who have strong organizing skills, have a good familiarity with industrial parts, and are willing to travel. 25. What is your best tip for people interested in becoming professional organizers? Be persistant. Believe in what you are doing. Be prepared to invest time, money and a lot of yourself into your chosen field of organizing endeavor. 
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