(Field Service Technician - Tyler Office) - When David Olliff came into this industry 35+ years ago, his job as a delivery driver was just that: A job. This foray, of course, grew to a role as a field service technician and a career of outstanding technical expertise, and perhaps more important to him, a tight, professional, and oft-personal connection with his clients.

In many ways, the post-service-call service surveys that come through speak louder than anything else does. Clients often speak of David’s sense of urgency, his expertise, his friendliness, and, as one client even put it after he serviced their equipment, “makes you feel like they care and want to help.”

As this established veteran finds himself on the back end of a career, no one – his clients or his coworkers – can deny that he is, in any way possible, here to help.

What led me to Datamax?

David was working for a local Marble company when an opportunity to go work for one of the contractors that came through the facility regularly opened up. With his wedding soon approaching, he agreed to the job, only for that contractor to back out on his word. So, David went job hunting.

“It was desperation for a job for one, as to how I got into this industry,” David said. “I remember I got married on a Friday, returned from my honeymoon on a Sunday, and then started with Copy Products that next Monday. It was 1985.”

He did deliveries for a year before going out into the field. David chuckles at the “early days.”

“I had no idea what the heck I was doing; at the time I wasn’t necessarily mechanically or electronically gifted at the time, but it all started seeping in… and here I am today,” David said.

After a brief stint with Carrier HVAC, he returned to the copier industry and worked at then-East Texas Copy Systems (which became Datamax in 2018) starting in 2009. 

My experiences at Datamax:

“The management here is outstanding, and that usually trickles down to the employees,” David said. “Our priority here is to get the customer back up and running. That’s our sole priority. I tell younger technicians all the time – lose your ego as quickly as you can. Unless you just walk in and naturally know everything.”

In many ways, David embodies the advice he received from a mentor years ago: “I’d rather have a technician with great people skills and average technician skills than the opposite.”

“I was never the most skilled technician at the start. But my focus has always been winning the customer over. If you can do that, they will let you do whatever it takes and they know that you’re going to do the very best job that you can. I want to make them feel like they’re my number one… every one of them.”

What makes me want to stay at Datamax?

“The people. You work hard and you develop relationships with your clients. You travel around and meet new people, and you run into customers who are now old friends,” David said.

There are also his fellow technicians across East Texas. David is happy to offer professional advice, technical assistance, or just words of wisdom to anyone who might need it. The way he puts it, he needed it at one time, too.

“Any time anyone needs help, I’ve always thrown myself out there,” David said.

That’s David Olliff in a nutshell. Talented. Personable. And unequivocally eager to help, in any way possible.