The Employee: JR Johnson

Location: East Texas

The Customer: Angelina County Outreach

 

JR Johnson, perhaps half-jokingly, says he should have been a truck driver.

“I just love driving. It doesn’t bother me at all. And I’ve always been fascinated by 18-wheelers,” JR said. “I’d go coast to coast, if I could.”

His love of driving is fortunate, as JR normally drives up to 250 miles per day serving customers in the East and Southeast regions of Texas. His territory goes as far north as Bullard, all the way south to Cleveland (just north of Houston). He’ll travel as far east as Kerbyville, near the Louisiana boarder, on up to Joaquin just past the Sabine National Forest.

“Anything between that triangle is where I’ll usually be,” he says.

Having that mileage – and consequently, a full carload of parts – does have its advantages. Especially when a client needs a new hard drive.

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The Client's Need

The day before, a storm came in and knocked out one of the copiers at Angelina County Outreach. They were getting an error code, and the copier was completely down.

“Because I drive so far, I try to have as much possible with me. I carry a lot of the drums, a lot of the fusers, and I’ve done this so long, I know what rollers will work with each machine,” JR says. “If I don’t have it with me, it’s too far of a drive to go all the way back to Tyler. That’s too much downtime for customers.”

The Team's Approach

JR’s a true industry veteran, celebrating 33 years in the industry on Jan. 12. He’s seen the mechanical machines evolve into the digital, networked devices that they are today. A lot has changed, but two things haven’t:

“Copiers still run offices. Paper goes in, and paper comes out,” JR says.

Second? “My favorite part of my job for all these years has been helping customers. Some of them I’ve been knowing for 30-something years, so there’s a real relationship there.”

JR treated the call from Angelina Outreach the same he does with any customer.

“When I see the call, within 5 minutes I call and talk to the customer and let them know who I am, why I’m calling, and ask what problems they’re having,” JR says. “If I can fix it on the phone, I will. If I can’t, I just let them know, I’m headed your way to get you taken care of.”

When JR arrived on site, it didn’t take long to realize that the copier needed a new hard drive.

“I had one with me, so I got everything set up and put back together,” JR says.

What Made Them a Raving Fan?

“I think she was shocked that I even had that part with me,” he says. “She was expecting it to be back the next day… So she was very excited to be back up and running so quickly.”

So with one more Raving Fan checked off his list, JR drives on, a vehicle stacked full of parts ready for the next service call.