enx magazine

Copy America offers quality copiers, faxes, and printers at a price no one can beat. “Our motto is Lower prices and Best Service, GUARANTEED! No one will under sell our prices,” says CEO and founder of Copy America, Roland Tolan. He went on to say, “We’ll match or we will beat prices!”

“The whole idea was to bring a manufacturer on board to authorize us for a dealership. I brought Okidata on board in 2001. I became an authorized dealer with Okidata and we sold their color copiers, system color copiers, color printers as well as their fax machine lines. Our main goal is to service and sell copiers, printers, and fax machines while also providing networking solutions,” says Roland. A complete listing of product lines they have brought on board include: Xerox, HP, Panasonic, Okidata, Sharp, NEC, and Toshiba.

Installation and delivery are other services that may be requested and a full line of paper sorters and consumable supplies are also available.

Copy America doesn’t just sell you a copier or fax machine, they sell you a solution. According to Tolan it works like this, “The industry is shifting to a different type of a sale; it’s no longer a sale of a printer or a copier, it’s more of a complex solution sale. If you can educate a customer and talk to them intelligently about how to eliminate costs, you’re not talking about a copier; you’re talking about a solution that can integrate a copier, a fax machine, and a printer in the same box. This will lower all the supplies costs as well as paper consumption.”

To add to this solution, copy America’s technical support sets them apart from the rest. They offer to buy service contracts from businesses that are too busy to handle customer service calls themselves. And what is more, they bill the over-loaded business, not the end user. They also provide integration support on UNIX/ Novell/ Windows NT/ Windows 2000 and consulting services for small to large business on automation needs. All of Copy America’s products are backed by a guarantee.

“Our guarantee is that when you have experienced business with us, you’ll be our customer for life,” says Roland, he went on to say, “What distinguishes us is the ability of the employees to make a decision, the best customer service, response time, availability of product, and the large variety of services we offer. We like to be known as the one stop source for all your office equipment needs.”

Beginnings

Roland Tolan started the business after working for Staples for eight years. There he ran the sales division on the west coast. “I put all those annoying sales people on the street with a catalog in their hand with next day free delivery,” he said with a chuckle. Roland was tired of the big business bureaucracy and decided to start operations built on a different principle, decision making ability for the customer.

“What customers don’t like today is when they call you to get an answer and nobody can give them an answer. And that’s why the big guys are losing ground today. They cannot give anybody an answer; they go from voicemail to voicemail. Numbers and bottom lines are everything and they come before the customer. A lot of the big guys are converting because they don’t have the decision making capability, they are converting because they have to go to approval to approval to approval to approval and department to department to department head. By the time they get the final approval, they lost the customer.”

“I wanted to create something that I have done for big corporate giants but on a different level, offering better customer service,” said Roland. He incorporated with Jordan Frasier at a lunch meeting in March, 2001. His partner is a very energetic 76- year-old whose many accomplishments include inventing the pacemaker, the kidney dialyses machine, along with the first ambulance. In the next couple of months he is coming back to work at Copy America out of retirement, this will be his 7th time leaving retirement throughout his life. He just can’t seem to keep busy enough at home. “He wants to come back”, added Roland.

They started with just three employees, the two and a secretary in Costa Mesa, California (where they are still located today). They now have grown to about 15 employees, with major annual percent growth rates (800% the first year, and 400% the 2nd and 3rd), “We are hoping to level out in the next two years,” Roland continued, “Our sales have created this excellent growth rate.” The key for Copy America is the authority it gives its customer service staff. “This operation is ran like a corporation. I don’t have to be involved personally with every decision with the customer. Every customer service person has the ability to make a decision instantly with the customer.”

They have also grown with advertising, “Through marketing in ENX, we have grown our Wholesale Division, that’s the only way we have marketed on a wholesale level. ENX made us take off as a distributor,” said Roland. Copy America has also been recognized by NEC as their number one distributor nationwide; they accomplished this in just 6 months of doing business with them.

Future Endeavors

Copy America wants to put the personal touch on the industry through teaming up with small, independent dealers. “It’s the same approach that banks were taking 20 years ago where they wanted to create a small bank where everybody would call you by your first name,” founder Tolan says, “This is what’s going to separate us from the rest of the industry.”

“Our plans for the future, first we are going to grow our retail division very aggressively within the next 2 years. We completed two acquisitions this year and we are working on a third acquisition which is not complete yet. Our goal is that within 24 months we going to be a 25 million dollar division. We are following our plan very diligently and closely,” Roland explains, he went on to say, “If you are a smaller dealership, do you want a bigger piece of the dealer pie? If your answer is yes, then our goal is that you and every owner and operator of such acquisitions, stay on board with us and be a part of the big picture.”

For more information on Copy America call:

Toll Free: 866-464-3262

T. 714-241-0341

F. 714-424-1943

www.ecopyamerica.com

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