One of our newest France OffiCenter clients, Jeff Stratman is our Innovator feature this month. Jeff is Vice President of Merchandising for Coinstar’s New Ventures Division. He is currently developing “Orango, powered by Redbox”, an innovation to the consumer electronics industry. Jeff is a true Innovator in his field and we are excited to feature him as just that this month!
1) Who are you and what do you do? Jeff Stratman, Vice President of Merchandising for Coinstar’s New Ventures Division. Developing “Orango, powered by Redbox,” a new automated retail concept for sales of new and refurbished consumer electronics.
2) Which OffiCenters location does your business call ‘home-base’? France OffiCenter.
3) How long have you been an OffiCenters client? 10 months.
4) What is your ‘elevator speech’? “Hi…which floor? Crazy weather, huh – sure could use some rain. Can’t believe we found an elevator that wasn’t being worked on – ha, ha – better safe, than sorry, I guess! Wheee!”
5) Where did you get the idea for your business? Coinstar asked employees to submit ideas for new automated business concepts. Winners: refurbished electronics, cups of coffee, movie/concert tickets and photo booth of the future. The rejected ides were funny, but I can’t legally release that information.
6) What makes your business unique? We sell electronics…refurbished…out of a machine – some of which are still kind of expensive. Also, we do this in grocery stores. This is sort of weird, but it’s working so far.
7) What are the keys to your success? My team’s combined years of experience in the Consumer Electronics industry and our network of contacts. The secondary market for electronics is very relationship based and filled with both good and bad people in terms of business ethics. Knowing who is who is crucial. Also, tending your own reputation as honest, fair and fact-based in each business dealing, is just as important.
8) How has officing with OffiCenters changed your business? First, just having everyone together and able to collaborate versus each of us working out of our homes, has been great. Second, OffiCenters helps take care of all the little things, which if you were doing them on your own, would be a productivity drainer.
9) What would you like people to know about you? As little as possible, until I get to know you people better.
10) Do you use social media to attract clients? Which services do you use? Yes. All the biggies (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and some smaller, more targeted ones for specific demographics that we want to reach more directly.
11) What is one of your favorite quotes? “Wise people are foolish, if they cannot adapt to foolish people.” – Michel de Montaigne
12) Who has been an inspiration in your life, and how? Mom and Dad, for all the obvious reasons.
13) When you have 30 minutes of free time, how do you use it? Nap.
14) If you could be any fictional character, whom would you choose and why? Sascha, aka “The Hamm’s Beer Bear.” Mountain scenery, ample refreshment, no apparent responsibility whatsoever causing stress. Nice.
15) If you could be any animal, what would you be and why? Emperor Tamarin. They live in the rain forest. Eat and sleep all day. Someone else helps keep them clean. They have awesome mustaches.
16) What is your favorite restaurant in Minnesota? The 112 Eatery.
17) What is your favorite place to visit in Minnesota? Minnehaha Creek.
18) What songs are included on the soundtrack to your life? 70s AM Gold + 80s New Wave + 90s Alternative + 00s Whatever.
19) If you could paint a picture of any scenery you’ve ever seen before, what would you paint and why? 2004: the view out a hotel room window on the 85th floor of the Grand Hyatt hotel in Shanghai – Pu Dong – a city the size of Manhattan, with twice as many people, that (at the time) didn’t exist just 10 years earlier. Absolutely staggering growth.
20) What is your favorite part of being with OffiCenters? Doughnut Wednesdays. Honorable mention: Bagel Wednesdays.