Mayfield Paper Find Right West Texas Business Growth

Mayfield Paper’s ability to attract good people is part of what McCraney calls Mayfield’s “secret sauce.”

“(Stanley) and this company are just real consistent,” he says. “(Stanley) is going to do it the right way, it’s just the way he always has been. And he attracts people who do that.”

People in West Texas, used to seeing booms and busts, want to work for a company like that, says McCraney.

“You hear about people here in West Texas just make a ton of money and blow it all,” he says. “That’s just not (Stanley).”

Severyn, the Lubbock branch manager, has been with Mayfield Paper for three years, but has worked in the distribution business for 33 years, moving all over the country. He says Mayfield hardly ever loses a sales rep, and that’s in part because the company’s formula works well for West Texas.

“They just leave you alone,” says Severyn. “That was the hardest part, not to have weekly reports. As long as you’re growing your business. I remember calling (Stanley) after three or four months and saying, ‘I haven’t heard from you. Am I doing OK?’ And he said, ‘If you weren’t, I’d be calling you.’”

Mayfield may give its sales reps space to operate, but prominent community members and local business leaders were given no such treatment, at least when Stanley’s late wife, came calling.

When the topic of Deanna comes up, it’s easy to hear in Stanley’s voice that she was one of those who made Mayfield Paper a success.

Deanna, like Stanley’s mother, Evelyn, was also involved in the company throughout her life, even serving as company president before she passed away in 2014. But instead of diligently constructing handmade gift wrap seals, Deanna had a different talent: philanthropy, or, more specifically, chasing down friends and local business leaders to donate to whatever cause she deemed most important to the community. And she was so good at it, too.

“It almost got to the point where they hated seeing her coming,” says Stanley, who was married to Deanna for 50 years. “She was hard to keep up with.”

Mayfield Paper’s reputation — as supportive yet hands-off — has even led rather directly to growth for the company. The company’s Lubbock branch came about because a competitor was planning to shut down its operation in the area and the competitor’s sales reps asked Mayfield to open a up a location there, according John Edward. So Stanley struck a deal with the competitor’s sales and office staff, the competitor shut down, and Mayfield stepped in with the same crew and made it a success.

“The way we treat the sales force makes them want to work for us,” says John Edward. “They feel like they can make more money working for us than they can other people. It’s a constant reinvestment in the company to keep it going, keep it thriving and keep it growing. Over the years, my gosh, we’ve only had a couple of years where we didn’t have growth.”

And remember: If a business isn’t growing, it’s shrinking.